Charley Davidson is one funny, witty, pain-in-the-butt Albuquerque PI.She used to be a consultant to her police detective dad, and is now a consultant to her police detective uncle.But there’s more the Charley than “Danger” and “Will Robinson” – her tits. She’s also a grim reaper. Not the DeadLike Metype either, but the kind chosen from birth, can speak every language known to man, see the dead and let them pass through her, and remember everything from birth kind. That’s a hard burden for a girl who’s just trying to make rent and avoid getting killed while doing it.

First Grave on the Right – Not your mom’s chick lit:

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room – or rather on the cover.The cover art screams silly chick lit, but as the old adage goes, don’t judge this audiobook by the paint on the model’s toes.This book is so much more.The beginning is quirky, fun, and entertaining, and because of that humor, the story builds on you without you realizing it.The listener’s sense of Charley’s complicated relationship with her family, especially her evil step-mother, starts out light and fluffy and ends with shocking depth. Her interest in Reyes starts out seeming superficial before becoming a desperate need.Somewhere between the laughs, the serious themes of child abuse, domestic violence, etc., sneak up on you.An overall great listen.

Second Grave on the Left – Taking the Grim out of Grim Reaper:

Like First Grave on the Right, this second book in the series is a stellar read, and again, Ms. Jones dresses up a serious theme in humor to make it more palatable. Here, Charley has to find a missing wife and solve the cold case of a teenage who disappeared without a trace over a decade ago. Ms. Jones pulls no punches there. And then there’s Reyes. Charley needs to find him to keep him alive, but he doesn’t want to be found. He’d rather let his body die, even if that brings about the end of the world. What’s a Grim Reaper to do? I loved this audiobook, but then again, I’m a sucker for bad boys. Son of Satan – how much more bad can a boy get?

Third Grave Dead Ahead– The Best of Three Worlds:

Just like in First Grave on the Right and Second Grave on the Left, this third book in the series blends great comedic style, scorching, blistering sex, and serious drama.At the end of the last book, Charley bound Reyes to his corporeal form. He is mad and he is taking his anger out on Charley by intruding into her life day and night. In the meantime, Charley is hired by a man to find his wife, except she’s sure that he killed his wife, or at least believes he killed her.This book has more twists than a Chubby Checker song.It also has a painful development in Charley’s relationship with her father, and a promising new friendship between Charley and a local biker gang.

On Narration:

I’m not going to lie. The only two reasons I purchased the Charley Davidson series were because: (1) it fit the paranormal/urban fantasy mystery genre; and (2) Lorelei Kingnarrated it. As usual, she doesn’t disappoint. If you’re familiar with Janet Evanovich’s StephaniePlumseries, you know how well Ms. King pulls of snarky, and there’s plenty of snark in these books. She gives great cop voice, and there are a ton of cops in this book. Lorelei King even does a good biker gang…wait, that sounded wrong. You know what I mean. In one of the books, she even clucks like a chicken. The things a narrator does for her art.

Some fantastic quotes:

Some girls wear Prada. Some girls wear Glock 17 short recoil spring-loaded semiautomatic pistols with a loaded chamber indicator and a nonslip grip.

...and then she glared at me, the same glare my stepmother used to give me when I gave her the Nazi salute. That woman was so touchy about her resemblance to Hitler.

If I couldn't be a good example, I'd just have to be a horrible warning.

I like to see the glass as half full, hopefully of Jack Daniels.

I strode toward Mr. Coffee with lust in my eyes. We'd had a thing for quite some time now Mr. Coffee and I...

A sheriff arrested me. I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure my men-in-uniform fetish began that day. The sheriff was hot. And he handcuffed me. I've never been the same.

“No. This has to do with drugs."
My jaw fell open and I almost lost my toothbrush. "You're on drugs?"
She pressed her mouth together. "No. You are."
"I'm on drugs?" I asked, stunned. I had no idea.”

Let me express how much I don't care on a scale of one to bite me

But give up my business? The same business I'd built from the ground up with my own two hands and designer Louis Vuittons? The same business for which I'd sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears? Well, maybe not sweat and tears, but there was blood. Lots of blood. Give it up? Not likely. Besides, what else would I do? I totally should've gone to Hogwarts when I had the chance.

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About Me

I am an alter ego and pen name of a 29-year-old attorney who writes and reads - or rather, listens to - urban fantasy and paranormal mystery novels.
Follow me on Twitter: @LostArtAudio
Check me out on GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5005625-dharma-kurlind
Check out the FAQs at the bottom of the site!

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Rating System

5 out of 5 - Incredible. So well written it hurts. You should buy this audiobook, listen to it, then listen to it again.

4 out of 5 - Very, very good. It is so good, it'll sit in the back of your mind and make you long for the next in the series.

3 out of 5 - Very good. Entertaining, satisfying and worth a good long listen.

2 out of 5 - Good. Buy it, listen to it, and move on. It's exactly as advertised, and worth the time.

1 out of 5 - Disappointing. You're not going to see this rating on my Blog. If I find an audiobook a 1, I won't review it.

Reviewing Policy & Inquiries

If you are an author, promoter or publisher who would like an audiobook reviewed here, please email me at Dkurlind [at] gmail dot com to work out a time-frame.

Please keep in mind that only audiobooks are reviewed. Also, please keep in mind the genres addressed in this Blog are limited to urban fantasy, urban horror, and paranormal romance, thrillers or mysteries.Related genres are welcome, including young adult, high fantasy, science fiction, high horror, mysteries, thrillers, romance, and suspense. I will not review non-fiction or erotica.

Reviews include published cover art, a spoiler-free summary, available excerpt links, audiobook details, narrator details, and links to other site reviews.All reviews will be posted on this Blog, Amazon.com, Audible.com, Goodreads.com, and Twitter.

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FAQ

Q. Why audiobooks? Are you blind?

If I lose a contact, sure, I'm blind as a bat.In all seriousness, I review audiobooks as opposed to the written book because I don’t own a single one of the many Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Thriller books I review.Instead, I’ve purchased their audio recordings.Shocking just how much money I spent on audible.com over the span of the last year. Why audiobooks?Because my alter ego – the one who has a Social Security number and a driver’s license – is an attorney who spends most of her time reading off a computer or inspecting tons of documents.Also, [shameless plug alert] I’m currently working on my own urban fantasy novel, The Lost Art of Hiding Among the Dead [/spa]. This means I spend 90% of my waking life using my eyes reading.While I love paranormal mysteries, if I spend any more of my time on reading, I might lose my mind as well as my vision. Audiobooks allow me to go through one to three books a week, but while moving, driving, running, or cleaning, instead of crouching over a manuscript.

Q.All your reviews are positive.Do you love every book you listen to?

Hardly! There are tons of books I’ve downloaded that were a waste of time, money and effort and I can think of a few, off the top of my head, that have inspired me to: (a) roll my eyes every 15 minutes; (b) write hate mail (but not send); (c) re-listen to them again spurred by an irrational belief that there must be a plot in there somewhere, I just know it; (d) give up after less than an hour; and (e) demanded my money back. However, in this Review, I choose to operate under the old adage of “if you haven’t anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”Truth is [shameless plug alert], as someone working on a novel myself, The Lost Art of Hiding Among the Dead [/spa], I understand how difficult and time-consuming it is to write a novel.Then consider how difficult it is to find a literary agent, an editor and a publisher, and then become well-read enough to have the novel converted into an audiobook.Even the worst book is a product of blood, sweat, and tears.Fortunately, there are enough wonderful books out there that deserve praise. However, if you're that curious and would like to see my list of awful audiobooks to not download under any cost, email me, and I’ll share, but I refuse to pooh-pooh someone’s life’s work publicly on this blog for the sake of airing out my own frustrations.